A diverse group of area residents have formed a non-profit group to generate funds to support and promote the new Dismal Swamp State Park in Camden County.

"Friends of the Dismal Swamp State Park" is raising money to improve the new park, in addition to organizing events to attract visitors.

Brett A. Clark/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Guests attending the Dismal Swamp State Park Visitor Center dedication ceremony Friday tour the new building.

"We plan to fund educational projects and items that the (park) rangers need," said Michele Aydlett, the group's president. "Like maybe the rangers need binoculars for taking groups out. They already told us they need more taxidermy mounts to put in the visitors center."

Aydlett noted that supporters of Jockey's Ridge State Park in Nags Head raise more than $100,000 a year to improve the facility.

She said "Friends of the Dismal Swamp State Park" is incorporated, and has applied for non-profit status, which would make donations to the group tax deductible.

"We were trying to get it (started) so we had it going once the park opened," Aydlett said. "We're just really excited about all the eco-tourism this park is going to bring to this region. It's going to be a huge benefit for Camden and Elizabeth City."

She said a workshop on birds was recently held in the visitors center before the facility formally opened. It was a hit.

"People came from as far as Greensboro (for the event)," she said.

The group's first funds are being raised by selling charter memberships for at least $50, she said. Donors have their names inscribed on a plague at the center.

"Some people buy them for children and grandchildren," she said.

The group members also can offer diverse views on ways the park can be promoted and improved, Aydlett said.

In addition to Aydlett, other board members include:

• Tim Aydlett, Michele's husband, who also is a member of the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Authority that helped fund the new park;

• Debbie Leete, Albemarle Hospital community outreach coordinator;

• Buck Bunch, a Perquimans County High School teacher;

• Eddie O'Neal, an attorney;

• Joe Winslow, an accountant;

• George Ramsey, a historian of the swamp who lives in Suffolk;

• Tom Morgan, a retired forester in Gates County;

• Phil Johnson of Pepsi Cola Bottling Ventures in Elizabeth City;

• Wanda McLean, a retired Elizabeth City State teacher;

• Mike Dixon, an owner in City Beverage Co., Inc.;

• Travis Burke, county extension director;

• Charlotte Underwood, a public affairs manager with Embarq;

• Capt. Mark Rose, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Support Center Elizabeth City;

• Wilson Jones, with J.W. Jones lumber company; and

• Penny Leary-Smith, director of the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center.

Leary-Smith said the park has been asked to present the group with a wish list of items that officials believe could help improve the facility. So far, some suggestions have included a projector or children's laptop computer, she said.

Leary-Smith also said the group will help the park organize events.

"We want to make this an eco-tourism destination," she said. "We can do that because with the trails, and the state park, and the welcome center, we can promote hiking, biking, birding, paddling (and) photography."